Follow-up is done regardless of whether the prospect becomes a customer or not. “We follow up with them regularly,” said Chris Kahrs, general sales manager of John Amato Hyundai Mazda in Milwaukee, Wisc. “The day after, if they did not buy, they get a phone call and then … [another call] two weeks after that. And then after that two-week phone call … we usually put it out a month or two months and follow up again.” Kahrs said it pays off; they have been able to bring many prospects back into the dealership through regular follow-up, giving them a second chance to turn that prospect into a special finance customer.

Identify Credit Quickly

Identifying and qualifying special finance customers early in the sales process is extremely important for both the sales process and for customer satisfaction. Rick Lee, sales director at Alexander Automotive in Murfreesboro, Tenn. agreed. “We try to identify very early in the sales process … if we have a secondary customer or a primary customer, and then if it’s secondary, we just take them down the secondary path,” he said. “We get them immediately in and do a customer interview … and then give it to our secondary managers so that they can get the best callback [and] select the type of cars the customer wants within the segment.”

Michael Anthony, special finance manager for VanDevere, Inc. in Akron, Ohio, stated that, before taking the customer out to look at cars, “We go over everything on the credit application, making sure things are correct, as in job time, dollar amount that they make per month, find out if their mortgages are up-to-date, things like that, things that might bite us in the butt afterwards.” He also said he thought it was important to have the customer complete their own application, rather than having the salesperson complete it for them. That way, he explained, there’s only one place to look in the case of a discrepancy.

Tracking

There must always be a plan for gauging the success of every process and tracking is that gauge.  In order to achieve top performance from a special finance department, numbers must be tracked and results measured. Dealers must be able to spend more time and money on what works and do away with what doesn’t. Randy Shirkey of Integrity Auto Group in Defiance, Ohio regarded tracking as an essential practice for his department. “We know where every dollar generated comes from, and you’ve got to really focus on putting the money where it’s working. Track everything.”